Thurston County Food Bank

Programs: Food bank basics the thurston county food bank's mission is to eliminate hunger in thurston county. The food bank is governed by a volunteer board of directors made up of community leaders. Our service area includes the urban core and growth areas around lacey, olympia, and tumwater. Tcfb works with the rural food banks in rochester. Collaborations include acting as the lead agency for the emergency food assistance program accessing food through food lifeline and northwest harvest and federal commodities. The thurston county food bank serves 15,571 families annually. Families include 52,222 individuals, half of which are children. Last year the number of visits increased 6 percent to 305,222 visits annually. The food bank distributed 6. 5 million pounds of food. Our basic food service includes basic food bags, baby food and formula, food for special diets, and food bags for those without cooking facilities. We also distribute usda foods through two separate programs, one of which targets seniors. Our outreach efforts include many best practices. "forks" (for kids), a backpack meal program is one example. Staff assists clients in accessing additional services by providing basic information and appropriate referrals to other agencies. The food bank is open monday, wednesday, and friday of each week from 11 to 3 pm. We are open the first tuesday from 11 to 1 for people with disabilities, and the second tuesday of every other month for families with infants and are open from 5 to 7 on the scond and fourth wednesday of each month. Spanish speaking staff are available during business hours to assist those learning english as a second language. We operate 23 satellite/mobile food banks as part of a collaboration effort with other service providers and the faith community. The hours and days of operation vary and complement those of our main location to improve community access. Our mobile food bank provides delivery to low-income senior housing areas to improve access for those with limited mobility or transportation. Several program focus on children and improving their nutritional status with a focus on supporting their success in school. The food bank relies on community support. In-kind donations of food and volunteer support are the core of our annual budget. Community food drives keep the shelves stocked and volunteers keep the doors open.

the "forkids" program our backpack program bridges the service gap that children who depend on the free and reduced lunch progream facxe each weekend. The key long term benefitr of having adequate nutrition is improved health. Numerious studies link good health with good nutrition. Over the years many studies have demonstrated the positive link between good nutrition and success in school; in fact, the usda's school meal programs are based on this positive link. This successful outreach program provides kid friendly food to children for the weekend with the help of the school system. This the basic model is to deliver food bags to local elementary schools on friday where school staff or volunteers distribute the food to program participants during the last recess. The students are able to use the backpacks they alrady own to transport the food home. On a monthly basis additional services are provided including toiletries, books, and some school supplies. The program provides produce routinely during the harvest season. The produce is packaged similar to a small csa box. The program continues to look for program enhancements and is somewhat limited by the size of a backpack. Our summer lunch program developed out of the need for these families to continue to receive support during the summer.